Month: January 2018

If you’re fired up about the quickly approaching Super Bowl 52 showdown between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles and you love the almost infinite props bets that are now a part of the annual NFL title tilt, then you’re in luck!

While 5Dimes has HUNDREDS of Super Bowl 52 betting props, here top 10 props that will make Super Bowl 52 the most exciting ever!

Top Ten Super Bowl 52 Prop Bets

Either team 3 straight scores -175
No team 3 straight scores +155
This is the BLEEPing Super Bowl. It’s highly unlikely that either teams scores three unanswered times!

A two point conversion made +245
No 2 point conversion made or attempted -290
All cards on the table, I am betting that there YES to if a 2-point conversion will be made. The ever shrinking 4-point spread points to a close game.

Safety scored in game +775
No safety scored in game -1200
These bets are always fun to hit on a broken play by either team. The Patriots are too experienced to allow a safety and outside of Brady, anyone who does will be cut by Emperor Belichick. The Eagles are young and inexperienced and if the yips get to them early a safety is all but likely.

Offense scores all TD’s -220
TD not scored by offense +180
The Eagles scored a total of 6 defensive and special teams TDs all season while allowing 2 against. The Pats scored 1 special teams TD all season. Zero defensive. They allowed a combined 3 against all season.

NE pass completions
Over 26½ -115
Under 26½ -105
Tom Brady completed 35 of 53 passes against Tennessee in the divisional round, but I think his 26-for-38 effort against Jacksonville is far closer to what we’ll see in Super Bowl 52. I favor the Over simply because I don’t expect the Pats to have much success rushing the ball. Besides, Brady averages 29.6 completions in Super Bowls compared to 24.1 completions per game during the past regular season.

N. Foles passing yards
Over 247½ -110
Under 247½ -110
Foles passed for 246 yards against Atlanta in the divisional round and a stunning 352 yards against Minnesota’s top-ranked defense in the NFC Championship. Can Foles reach 248 passing yards in the Super Bowl 52? The trends point to a yes because the Pats ranked an uninspiring 30th against the pass this season (251.2 ypg).

T. Brady passing yards
Over 294½ -110
Under 294½ -110
Jacksonville held Brady to 290 passing yards in the AFC Championship. Simply put, if Philly’s defense plays anywhere near what they’ve shown the last four weeks, Brady will not pass for 295 yards in Super Bowl 52.

J. Ajayi rushing yards
Over 60½ -110
Under 60½ -110
Ajayi rushed for 54 yards in the divisional round and 73 against the Vikings in the NFC title tilt. He tops this doable figure against a Pats defense that finished 20th against the run this season (114.8 ypg).

R. Gronkowski pass receptions
Over 5 -130
Under 5 +110
Gronk caught six passes against the Titans in the divisional round, but just one in the AFC Championship after suffering a concussion. Gronkowski averaged 4.9 receptions per game this season and has a career postseason average of an identical 4.9 catches per game so, I’m going to say play the Under.

Winning team visits the White House -300
Winning team does not visit White House +220
Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and owner Bob Kraft have all but openly supported the President and they went last year after winning Super Bowl 51. Eagles players have been more vocal about social issues and Chris Long has already publicly stated he would NOT visit the White House. That was after he donated his whole 2017 season salary to different charities.

The 2017-2018 NBA Season rolls along with nothing looking like any team will stop the Golden State Warriors from repeating as champs. The Warriors remain huge favorites. Is there anyone that can stop the Dubs?

2018 NBA Championship Odds & Picks

Warriors -215

Cavs +600

Rockets +925

Celtics +1025

Spurs +2200

OKC +3750

Raptors +4000

TWolves +5500

Wizards/Bucks +7600

76ers +12500

The Odds-On Favorite To Win The 2018 NBA Title: Golden State Warriors -215

The Golden State Warriors, statistically, have the absolute best offense in the NBA. The Warriors shoot over 50% from the field. They shoot close to 40% from three. But, that’s not the real reason why Golden State is a less than -200 favorite to repeat as NBA Champions. The real reason is because Golden State’s defense ranks in the Top 5 in field goal percentage allowed. Teams shoot less than 45% from the field versus Golden State.

At full strength, it’s hard to find a better starting five. Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Zaza Pachulia work as well together as any starting five in the history of the NBA. But, the odds are low. Keep reading for my other possible choices.

The Smart Pick To Win The 2018 NBA Title: Boston Celtics +1025

Boston is the anti-Golden State. What I mean by that is Boston has become the best defensive team in the NBA. The Celtics rank in the Top 5 in points allowed, field goal percentage allowed, and three-point percentage allowed. The Celtics even rank in the Top 10 in free throw percentage allowed.

Even without Gordon Hayward, who got hurt in the first game of the season, the Celtics have excelled. Boston’s deep. The Celtics have 3 players in addition to Kyrie Irving who can play the point: Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, and Jaylen Brown. The front line is solid. I think the Celtics have a big shot at over 10 to 1 odds.

The Longshot Pick To Win: Oklahoma City Thunder +3750

Oklahoma City’s odds are close to 40 to 1. What that means is that the Thunder should have no shot to upset the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. I get it. A team with Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook should be better than what they are.

That’s just it. I believe OKC is better. It’s going to take some time for this team to gel. Heck, it might take all the way until the start of the NBA Playoffs. Once the team does gel, forget it. Russell Westbrook remains the best player in the NBA. Both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony can grab rebounds, score, and play defense. Sam Adams has become a top center.

Once OKC puts it all together, they could be a tough out for any team.

When the young Duke Blue Devils play together, they’re a tough team to beat. Unfortunately, Duke’s got the same issues this season as they’ve had the past 3 seasons. First, they’re not a deep squad. Duke must rely on no player getting hurt. Second, they’re not an experienced squad. Coach K has decided to rely on freshmen…again. Finally, they don’t play team defense nearly well enough to win the NCAA Tournament.

On the surface, Villanova looks like a much better choice than the Duke Blue Devils. Coach Jay Wright preaches defense. The Wildcats have responded. They allow less than 70 points per game. But, Villanova suffered a serious injury on Jan. 24. Phil Booth is out indefinitely due to a broken hand. Booth injured his shooting hand.

Without a timetable on Booth’s return, Nova could be in some trouble. Booth averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 assists, and 3.3 boards per. Those aren’t stunning numbers. He was an integral part of Wright’s rotation, though.

The Expert Pick To Win The 2018 NCAA Basketball Title: Virginia +1400

Is Virginia’s the team to beat? The odds are ridiculously high for the best defensive team in college basketball. Virginia ranks first in points allowed per game. They rank in the Top 7 in three-point percentage allowed. They rank in the Top 4 in field goal percentage allowed.

Don’t sleep on the Cavaliers’ defensive rankings. Virginia plays in the deep ACC where North Carolina, Duke, Louisville, Syracuse, and Notre Dame all play. Virginia forces you to play slow. That allows the Cavaliers to take advantage of younger, inexperienced teams that like to push the pace.

If you take bad shots, the Cavaliers make you pay.

The Longshot Pick To Win The 2018 NCAA Basketball Title: West Virginia +2000

The Big 12 is deep. That’s one of the reasons I like West Virginia at 20 to 1. The Mountaineers will have gone through a tough conference schedule before entering the NCAA Tournament in March. If their best player, Jevon Carter, remains healthy, Bob Huggins’ squad will have a shot to win it all.

Carter averages close to 17 points, around 5 boards, and 6 to 7 assists per game. That 6’ 2” guard has a legit big in Sagaba Konate to dish the rock too. Konate averages close to 10 points and around 8 boards per game. The odds are more than fair on the Mountaineers to win the NCAA Championship.

With the mid-way point of the 2017-18 NHL season in the rear-view mirror, its time to look at how to bet the remainder of the NHL season. If you’re an NHL hockey betting enthusiast and you’re looking for consistent winners this season, then you need to look no further than at the expansion Vegas Golden Knights!

Yes, you read that right.

Why You Should Keep Betting On the Vegas Golden Knights

Despite their status as a first-year franchise, the Knights (32-12-4) have put together the second-best record in all of hockey at the time of this writing and lead the entire NHL, by far, when it comes to bringing home the bacon! Vegas is a whopping +$1959, which leads second-place money winner Tampa Bay (+$1234) by over $700.

Not that they’ve been horrific on the road (13-9-2), but the Knights become one of the best teams in all of hockey in their inaugural campaign, because they’re a virtual lock to win on their home ice at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where they’ve gone 19-3-2.

A simple $100 wager on every Knights home game in 2017-18 to date would have net a bettor $1,285. The fact that they’re based in the only U.S. city where you can make a legal wager has created a perfect storm for NHL bettors to beat the books!

Thanks to their collection of young players and veteran ‘cast-offs’ from teams that foolishly exposed some players, the Golden Knights are ranked a stellar third in scoring (3.4 gpg) and equally impressive sixth in defense (2.6 gpg) and that’s why they surpassed their preseason Over/Under win total of 26.5 wins back on Jan. 2.

One such player that, in hindsight, should have never been exposed is veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The former Pittsburgh Penguins net-minder is ranked second only to St. Louis Blues goalie Carter Hatton in goal against average (1.77). His .942 save percentage doesn’t come close to describing his outstanding all-star level play this season, which has affected both, his current and former team with the Penguins currently ranked 21st in goals allowed (3.0 gpg).

“I was excited about the challenge that comes with a new team,” said Fleury. “I couldn’t be happier with how well things have turned out.”

In addition to their phenomenal on-ice play, many hockey observers also believe the Golden Knights are benefiting from playing in Las Vegas, where distractions can be enormous for visiting teams and players. Whatever the case may be, there are plenty of reasons for you to back the Vegas Golden Knights – and until they cool off in a big way, you need to ride them as much as possible, particularly when they’re at home!

The 2018 Super Bowl is less than a week away and there is one big question that football bettors have.

When should I bet on the Super Bowl?

Super Bowl 52 Betting Line Movement Trends

When the official betting odds for Super Bowl 52 were released on the Sunday night following Philadelphia’s stunning 39-7 beatdown win over Minnesota, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were 5.5-point favorites to win back-to-back titles. Some books had the Super Bowl spread as high as 6.5-points.

However, since then, the line has moved slowly, but steadily toward the high-flying Eagles. By the evening of Monday, January 22nd, the spread had already dipped by half a point. Now the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots were favored by five points over the Eagles and that line held for four days at almost every sportsbook.

Two days ago though, the line moved toward the underdog Eagles to 4.5 points and that’s where it sits right now. Up to today, the Eagles are getting up to 60 percent of the spread bets versus the Pats. If more bets continue to come in on Philly, oddsmakers could be forced to shrink the Super Bowl 52 spread even further. Could it drop to 4 or even 3.5 points? That seems unlikely because the no sportsbook wants it to be cheap to buy on to 3.

On the flip side, this is the best time to bet on the Patriots. The betting trends dictate that it will take an act of God to shift the spread down further. When and if the spread does widen it will go up to as high as 5.5-points. No sportsbook in the world will offer a 6-point spread on the Super Bowl this close to kick-off. Sharps will buy that spread to a touch down in no time.

More than likely the spread will remain between 4.5-5 points. Why? The Patriots have played in seven Super Bowls during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era and only once have they won a Super Bowl by more than four points and it took a historic comeback for that to happen.

With four teams remaining in the quest to win Super Bowl 52, the field is almost as narrow as it’s going to get NFL betting buffs!

Will the favored New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings win their respective conference championship clashes or are the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars and 14-win Philadelphia Eagles better choices to pull of upsets against their favored conference rivals? You’re about to get a great reason to bet on – and against – every team that is still standing in this season’s NFL playoffs.

Super Bowl Odds And Why You Should bet On – And Against – Every team!

Patriots -108
If you’re thinking about backing Tom Brady and the Patriots to win it all, then there’s the fact that New England still has a potent offense that just hung 35 points on Tennessee in the divisional round and a defense that bent, but didn’t break in ranking fifth in points allowed during the regular season.
The top reason to bet against the Pats is that they’ve probably been more vulnerable between the 20 yards lines than any Bill Belichick team we’ve ever seen. Statistically speaking, New England was awful against the pass (30th) and just slightly less competent against the run this season (20th). Oh, and there’s also the fact that the man that built the Jags this season, (Tom Coughlin) has beaten them twice in two Super Bowl meetings.

Vikings +228
The best reason to bet on the Vikings to win it all is simple. They’ve got a phenomenal defense that routinely shuts down even the most high-powered offenses. Minnesota finished first in total defense, second against the run and pass and first in points allowed, so there’s that! The best reason to bet against the Vikings is that they’re not anywhere close to being ‘prolific’ offensively and needed a flat-out miracle against New Orleans this past weekend to reach the NFC title tilt, so their ‘good luck’ is probably completely used up for the rest of the postseason if you believe in stuff like that!

Eagles +638
The best reason to bet on Philadelphia is that they’ve got a really good defense that even I foolishly dismissed before their NFC divisional round smackdown of Atlanta. The Birds finished fourth in total defense, first against the run and fourth in points allowed, so they can apparently shut down anyone. The bad news and best reason to bet against Philly right now is that veteran quarterback Nick Foles is mediocre at best and is certainly not going to put a whole lot of points on the board, especially against any defense he may have to face for the remainder of the postseason.

Jaguars +870
As far as Jacksonville is concerned, the best reason to back the Jags is that they were pretty damned elite on both sides of the ball this season. Even though you’d never think of the Jags as ‘explosive’ offensively, they managed to finish the regular season ranked fifth in scoring, not to mention they have a phenomenal defense that ranked second in points allowed. They’ve also upset Pittsburgh and look like they could probably beat anyone after this past weekend’s performance. Conversely, the best reason to bet against Jacksonville is that they gave up a ton of points and five TD passes against the Steelers, are facing arguably the greatest quarterback in league history in the AFC Championship and have a quarterback in Blake Bortles that has been the complete definition of an underachiever for the best part of his career.

So, there you have it some reasons to bet on – and against – every team left in the NFL playoffs heading into this weekend’s conference championship matchups!

The 2018 college football championship may have just ended in absolutely thrilling fashion thanks to Alabama’s 26-23 overtime win over SEC rival Georgia, but as college football bettors everywhere know, it’s never too early to start making preparations – or wagers – on next year’s championship winner.

2019 Top 20 College Football National Champion Odds

Alabama – 5/2
You know, it’s a damned shame, but Alabama probably would have been favored to win it all next season even if they lost to Georgia in the 2018 national championship. Now, that they’ve apparently found a flat-out star in freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa – who now looks like he’s going to supplant two-year dual-threat starter Jalen Hurts next season, the sky’s the limit for Nick Saban’s team again. Notice, how I didn’t say a thing about who the Tide need to replace on the defensive side of the ball?

Clemson – 6/1
Yes, Clemson is a perennial national powerhouse under beloved head coach Dabo Swinney, but I’m going on record right now to say that, unless Kelly Bryant becomes a better passer, the Tigers will come up short in their quest to win it all next season.

Ohio State – 8/1
No J.T. Barrett and a first-time starter at quarterback means no national championship for the Buckeyes to me!

Georgia – 8/1
The Bulldogs will be losing elite running backs Nick Chubb and Sonny Michel, but with quarterback Jake Fromm and gifted running back De’Andre Swift back to lead Kirby Smart’s offense – and another powerful defense an almost given, I see no reason why Georgia can’t contend for another berth in the four-team College Football Playoff next season.

Michigan – 10/1
Jim Harbaugh’s 2018 team will be an elite defensive team that is difficult to score against. That much is a given. However, unless he finds a legitimate quarterback, I wouldn’t expect the Wolverines to contend for much. Why Michigan is a 10/1 favorite right now is beyond me!

Penn State – 12/1
Superstar running back Saquon Barkley will be sorely missed, but quarterback Trace McSorley will be a Heisman Trophy contender next season and James Franklin has done a good job of building a perennially powerful, defense in Happy Valley and he has a bunch of elite recruits coming in.

Oklahoma – 18/1
Replacing Baker Mayfield is going to be next to impossible, but Kyler Murray is a former five-star recruit and head coach Lincoln Riley is an offensive genius. Still, you should expect a few struggles just because the Sooners will have a first-time starter under center.

Michigan State – 25/1
I like Michigan State’s value as a 25/1 pick with quarterback Brian Lewerke coming back and a bunch of Michigan State’s defensive starters returning for head coach Mark Dantonio.

Texas – 25/1
Tom Herman had a penchant for playing musical chairs at quarterback in 2017 hurt his team this season, so he needs to figure that out and in a hurry during the spring. Still, I’d expect the Longhorns to improve in Year 2 of the Herman era.

Miami, FL. – 25/1
The Hurricanes either need quarterback Malik Rosier to take a sizable step forward or for 2017 star recruit N’Kosi Perry to take the bulls by the horn. Still, this is a team that is brimming with talent on both sides of the ball.

Wisconsin – 25/1
I fully expect Wisconsin to be right back in the mix for a berth in the four-team College Football Playoff with 10 starters returning on offense including quarterback Alex Hornibrook. Oh…and I did I mention that head coach Paul Chryst has built a perennially powerful defense in Wisconsin that is as good as anyone’s?

Auburn – 25/1
With quarterback Jarrett Stidham set to return for another season, I absolutely love the value that Auburn is offering as a 25/1 pick next season. Remember, Auburn beat both, Georgia and Alabama this past season.

Washington – 30/1
With quarterback Jake Browning coming back and running back Myles Gaskin possibly returning, I see no reason why the Huskies won’t challenge for the Pac-12 title and their second berth in the four-team CFP under widely respected head coach Chris Petersen.

LSU – 30/1
The Tigers have a wealth of talent each and every year, but Ed Orgeron will have to identify whether Myles Brennan or Lowell Narcisse will be his new starting quarterback and hope the one he chooses plays like a star if he ever expects to get past Alabama, Georgia and Auburn.

USC – 40/1
The Trojans will be breaking in a new starting quarterback with Sam Darnold leaving and that makes me think USC just won’t contend for anything outside of a Pac-12 title, if that!

Virginia Tech – 40/1
I love the value that the Hokies are offering heading into 2018 with a really good head coach in Justin Fuente and a gifted quarterback in Josh Jackson that is set to make the leap to stardom next season.

Florida State – 40/1
The Seminoles will have a new head coach in Willie Taggart, but they’ll also have gifted quarterback Deondre Francois back. Still, expect more of a rebuild under Taggart as opposed to a team shooting for a national championship.

Notre Dame – 40/1
Brian Kelly will have to decide if Brandon Wimbush or Ian Kelly is the answer at quarterback, but it’s a pleasant problem for the Irish team that looks like they will contend for a playoff berth next season.

West Virginia – 40/1
With star quarterback Will Grier and elite wide receiver David Stills both returning, I love the value that the Mountaineers are offering as a 40/1 pick that can score the ball with any team in the country.

Stanford – 40/1
I like head coach David Shaw, but he needs to identify who next season’s starter will be at quarterback in a hurry – and maybe pray that superstar running back Bryce Love returns.